Tags: the black cat

Cold Reads celebrates Writer of the Month! Throughout August, we will be studying the works of Edgar Allan Poe and celebrating his massive contributions to the horror genre.

Throughout the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, there is a recurring theme of murder and the agonizing guilt that soon follows afterward. "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" are the exemplary stories of this common theme. I chose "The Black Cat" because I think that almost everyone and their grandmothers have read "The Tell-Tale Heart." I felt that hardly any attention was given to the tale up for this week's review and, having never read it myself, I decided to give it a go. What I discovered was an excellent tale of the supernatural that, while not quite matching the intensity of "Tell-Tale," deserves to be read by any fan of the master.(read more...)

Call this an interesting experiment. A few months ago, I had a notion to start up a regular podcast for Classic-Horror.com. To that end, I bought the necessary equipment and audio software, rang up my good buddy Tenebrous Kate, and recorded what you might call a "pilot episode." Although Kate and I had a lot of fun, the post-production turned out to be a pain (let's just say that this recording took place more than two months ago), so this is likely to be a very irregular feature. Continue on for details on the episode and a download link.(read more...)

Sometimes, we get contacted to do an article to coincide with the release of a theatrical film or DVD. Most of the time, we don't do it because we either don't have any ideas or there are no good ideas for that particular movie. The PR folks for Universal's recent remake of The Hitcher (coming out on DVD May 1st -- check the cover art at the bottom of the page) had something different, however -- a good idea. They said, "Hey, guys, we have somebody getting yanked apart by two semi trucks in our movie. What about listing off some other brutal and/or sadistic deaths?" I was intrigued, which is often enough to get me to put fingers to keyboard, so here we go.

The list presented below isn't definitive. These aren't necessarily the ten most brutal or sadistic deaths in a horror movie, just the ones we thought were notable. Your mileage may vary. Each entry is accompanied by a screencap that can be accessed by clicking the thumbnail icon below the film title.(read more...)

In 1933, Universal produced only one horror film. It was The Invisible Man. It was the third horror film directed by James Whale.

The film opens on the snow covered village of Iping. A mysterious stranger (Claude Rains), totally covered with bandages and wearing dark goggles, checks into the Lion's Head Tavern and Inn. Meanwhile in his lab, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers) is trying to comfort his daughter Flora (Gloria Stuart) about the disappearance of her boyfriend Jack Griffin. Cranley's other assistant Kemp (William Harrigan) tells her of his feelings for her, but he is rejected.(read more...)